Crutch

ABSTRACT

A crutch, which does not give pressure on the tissues, muscles and nerves of the user&#39;s armpit, and provides a stabilized walking to a user, is disclosed. The crutch includes a support rod, a cross-pad coupled to an upper end of the support rod, a hand piece provided at a mid point of the support rode, and a cap for preventing the crutch from skidding mounted on a lower end of the support rod. An upper part corresponding to a section between the cross-pad and a predetermined point below the hand piece of the support rod is curved to have a smaller radius, while a lower part corresponding to a section between the predetermined point of the support rod and the lower end of the support rod is curved to have a larger radius.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a crutch, which is a supporting stafffor assisting a lame or infirm person in walking, and more particularlyto a crutch, which is serviceable and stable in use, without placingpressure on the tissues, muscles and nerves of the user's armpit.

BACKGROUND ART

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional crutch, and FIG. 2 is aside elevation view of the conventional crutch in use. As shown in thedrawing, a conventional crutch 1, which is implemental equipment toassist a person having an inconvenient lower body in walking, comprisesa cross-pad 3 adapted to be fitted in a user's armpit, a support rod 2,which is branched in its upper part and connected to the cross-pad 3 atits upper branched ends, a hand piece 4 fixed between the branchedportions of the support rod 2, and a cap 5 for preventing the crutchfrom skidding mounted on a lower end of the support rod 2 to prevent thelower end of the support rod 2 from slipping. In use of the crutch 1, auser interposes the cross-pad 3 in his/her armpit, and grasps the handpiece 4 by his/her hand to support his/her body weight with the supportrod 1. Generally, the crutch 1 is inclined with respect to a user's bodywhen the crutch 1 supports the user's body on the ground, so as to givea stable supporting capability to the user and less pressure on thetissues, muscles and nerves of the user's armpit.

Accordingly, a length of the crutch must be changed according to auser's body length. Where the crutch 1 is excessively long, compared toa user's body, it is difficult for the user to support his/her bodyweight with the crutch 1 because of an excessively large angle betweenthe crutch 1 and the user's body. On the other hand, where the crutch 1is excessively short, compared to a user's body, it is difficult for theuser to keep a right posture as well as to support his/her body becauseof an approximately parallel configuration defined between the crutch 1and the user's body. Therefore, the crutch 1 is commonly constructed tobe higher than a height of a user's armpit.

However, since such a conventional crutch 1 is designed to support auser's body weight by its cross-pad 3 and hand piece 4, after use overan extended period, the user suffers from an intensive pressure onnerves of his/her armpit and a paralysis of his/her armpit. In additionto this, the user suffers from a blister on his/her palm grasping thehand piece 4.

In use, since a length of the crutch 1 is generally longer than a heightof a user's armpit, the user conducts a walking motion while moving thecrutch along a semi-circular path laterally spaced from the user,thereby requiring a wide area around the user. Accordingly, since thecrutch 1 interferes with surrounding passersby, who are walking around auser, both the user and the surrounding passersby suffer frominconvenience. Furthermore, when a user ascends passages such as astairway and a hill while interposing the crutch 1 in his/her armpit,since an angle defined between the crutch 1 and the user's body becomelarge, the crutch 1 cannot support the user's body weight, thereby thecrutch 1 cannot carry out its objective function.

In addition, since the conventional crutch 1 is used in a state of beinginclined, the cap 5, which is fitted on a lower end of the crutch 1,comes into contact with the ground surface at only its partial portion.Therefore, the cap 5 cannot sufficiently carry out a function ofpreventing slippage on the ground surface. In this connection, sinceonly the partial portion of the cap 5 comes into contact with the groundsurface, the portion of the cap 5 is early worn away, compared to theremaining portion of the cap 5. As force acting vertically on the abovementioned inclined crutch 1, the crutch 1 get bent after use over anextended period.

To overcome the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art,although crutches, which are designed to be controlled in its lengthaccording to a user's body size, are developed these days, the crutcheshave disadvantages such as complex structures, high manufacturing costsand instability.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind theabove problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the presentinvention is to provide a crutch, which does not give pressure on thetissues, muscles and nerves of the user's armpit and damage to theuser's palm.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a crutch, which isdesigned to eliminate discomfort in walking as well as interference withsurrounding passersby.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a crutch, whichis provided with a cap for preventing the crutch from skidding adaptedto come into contact with the ground at its whole bottom surface, toafford stability of the crutch and prevention of the cap's abrasion

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention providesa crutch including a support rod, a lower part between a lower end and apredetermined point below a mid point of the support rod is bent to alarge radius and an upper part between the predetermined point and anupper end of the support rod is bent to a smaller radius; a cross-padmounted on the upper end of the support rod; a hand piece positioned atthe mid point of the support rod; and a cap for preventing the crutchfrom skidding mounted on a lower end of the support rod.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of thepresent invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional crutch;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the conventional crutch of FIG. 1, in use;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a crutch according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the crutch according to an embodiment ofthe present in use; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the decomposition of a force appliedto the conventional crutch of FIG. 1 and the crutch according to thepresent invention of FIG. 3.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the samereference numerals are used throughout the different drawings todesignate the same or similar components.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a crutch according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. As shown in the drawing, the crutch 10 accordingto the present invention comprises a cross-pad 13 made of appropriatematerial such as wood and aluminum and adapted to support a user'sarmpit, as in a conventional crutch, a support rod 12, which isconnected to the cross-pad 13 at its upper branched ends and extendeddownward to have a length suitable for a user's body size, a hand piece14 fixed to a predetermined position of the support rod 12, and a cap 15for preventing the crutch from skidding mounted on a lower end of thesupport rod 12 to prevent the lower end of the support rod 12 fromslipping.

The support rod 12 is gently bent to have a bow shape, in which an upperpart corresponding to a section between the cross-pad 13 and thediverging point of the support rod 12 below the hand piece 14 is bent tohave a smaller curvature radius, while a lower part corresponding to asection between the diverging point and the lower end of the support rod12 is bent to have a larger curvature radius, that is, a virtuallystraight shape.

Functions of the crutch according to the present invention will now bedescribed.

As shown in FIG. 2, since the conventional crutch 1 is in contact withthe ground surface in a state of being inclined by a relatively largeangle with respect to a user's body, a user carries out a walking motionwhile pushing the hand piece 3 downwardly by his/her hand to supporthis/her body weight with the crutch 1.

Meanwhile, from FIG. 4, it is appreciated that the crutch 10 accordingto the present invention has the support rod 12, which is slightly bentat its upper part and then is almost vertically extended at its lowerpart. That is, the upper part of the support 12 is bent by a relativelylarge extent while the lower part is nearly straightly extended, toallow the cross-pad 13 to be positioned beneath a user's armpit.

Accordingly as shown in FIG. 5, in the conventional crutch 1 in a stateof supporting a user, since an extending direction of the support rod 2is considerably different from a direction of force acting on the handpiece 4 by user's hand, a force, which is vertically applied to the handpiece 4 of the crutch 1, is decomposed into a first component force F1,which is horizontally directed toward the user's armpit, and a secondcomponent force F2, which is directed downward along the crutch 1. Ofthe first and second component forces F1 and F2, the first horizontalcomponent force F1 is applied to the user's armpit, thereby forciblypressing on the user's armpit.

In contrast with the conventional crutch 1, in the crutch 10 accordingto the present invention, since the lower part of the support rod 12 ispositioned on the ground to be vertically erected, a force, which isvertically applied to the hand piece 14 of the crutch 10, is whollytransmitted to the cap 15 for preventing the crutch from skidding,without creation of a horizontal force directing toward the user'sarmpit, thereby alleviating discomfort in the user's armpit.Furthermore, since excessive bending load is not applied to the crutch10, there is no distortion such as a flexure of the crutch 10.

In addition, since the upper part of the support rod 10 is gently bentinwardly, so as to allow the lower part of the support rod 10 to bepositioned near to the user, compared to the convention crutch 1, theuser can carry out the walking motion while moving the crutch 10 along asemi-circular path having a relatively short radius. Therefore, by thereduced waling range occupied by the user and the crutch 10, the crutch10 almost does not give interference to surrounding passersby.

In use, since the lower part of the support rod 12 is positioned to beperpendicular to the ground, the cap 15 for preventing the crutch fromskidding mounted on the lower end of the support rod 12 is in contactwith the ground at its whole bottom area. Accordingly, the cap 15 forpreventing the crutch from skidding of the crutch 10, according to thepresent invention, is less worn, compared to the cap 5 of theconventional crutch 1, which is in limited contact with the ground onlyat its local bottom area, thus stabilizing a user's walking posture andreducing the abrasion of the cap 15 for preventing the crutch fromskidding.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the present invention provides a crutch havingadvantages as follows.

Since a user's body weight is evenly distributed throughout the crutch,pressure and thus discomfort to a user's armpit is alleviated, anddamage to a user's palm is also reduced. Therefore, there is no flexurein the crutch, even after use over an extended period of time.

Since the crutch does not have a large walking path due to its bentconfiguration, unlike a conventional crutch, the user can walkconveniently, with reduction of interference with surrounding passersby.

Since the lower part of the support rod is almost vertically erected onthe ground, the cap for preventing the crutch from skidding mounted onthe lower end of the support rod is in contact with the ground at itswhole bottom area. Therefore, the crutch according to the presentinvention enables a user to stably walk, and enables the cap forpreventing the crutch from skidding to be less worn away.

As such, the crutch according to the present invention provides a userwith considerable stabilization and convenience, compared to theconventional crutch.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendisclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed in the accompanying claims.

1. A crutch comprising a curved support rod, a cross-pad mounted on theupper end of the curved support rod, a hand piece positioned at the midpoint of the curved support rod; and a cap for preventing the crutchfrom skidding mounted on a lower end of the curved support rodcharacterized in that; the lowest part of the curved support rod isnearly straightly extended; and the closer to the upper part of thesupport rod, the more curved with a smaller radius the support rod is.